Thestere orstère (st) is aunit ofvolume in theoriginal metric system equal to onecubic metre. The stere is typically used for measuring large quantities offirewood or other cut wood,[1] while the cubic meter is used for uncut wood.[2] The name was coined from the Greek στερεόςstereós, "solid", in 1795 inFrance as a metric analogue to thecord. The unit was introduced to remove regional disparities of this former unit, for which the length could vary greatly from 6 to 13.5 m. It is not part of themodern metric system (SI) and is no longer a legal unit in France, but remains used in the commerce of firewood.
The correspondence between stere and cubic meters of stacked wood is imprecise because it depends on the length of the logs used and on how irregular they are. The stere corresponds to 1 m3 (35.3 cu ft) of wood, made exclusively with logs of 1 m (3.3 ft) in length, all stacked parallel and neatly arranged. If the logs are less than 1 m, the volume of visible wood decreases because the voids are better occupied. Thus the "stere" no longer corresponds to 1 m3, but to 0.8 m3 (28.3 cu ft) for 50 cm (19.7 in) logs, 0.7 m3 (24.7 cu ft) for 33 cm (13.0 in) logs and 0.6 m3 (21.2 cu ft) for 25 cm (9.8 in) logs.
In Dutch and German, a closely related unit calledkuub (Dutch), short forkubieke meter, or "Kubikmeter" (German) which differs from a stere. Whereas a "kuub" or "Kubikmeter" is a solid cubic metre, as it was traditionally used for wood, a stere (in German: Raummeter) is a cubic metre pile of woodblocks. A stere or Raummeter is less than a kuub or full cubic metre of wood, because the spaces between the woodblocks are included in a stere, while they do not count towards a kuub or Kubikmeter. In Finnish, the same unit is known asmotti (from Swedishmått, "measure").
The stere as used in contexts outside the timber industry is not subject to the same ambiguity.[3] In particular, stere and kilostere are sometimes used in hydrology, as the kilostere (1,000 m3 (35,315 cu ft) ormegalitre) is a slightly smaller metric analogue of anacre-foot (approximately 1,233 m3 (43,500 cu ft)), similar to the relationship of themetric tonne to theshort ton.[4]
 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in German. (May 2016)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
 | Thisstandards- ormeasurement-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
